THE WEEK AHEAD: Earnings, earnings and more earnings

January 2, 20024:43 PM PST

Technology stocks finally broke out of their slump this week thanks to some impressive earnings reports from the likes of Yahoo! and Juniper Networks. Investors are hoping the pattern holds next week when virtually every other tech firm reports.

For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 176 points to 10,812.05 while the Nasdaq hustled up 222 points to 4,245.99.

"These markets had a really good tone to them over the last day or two because of the earnings numbers that have come out," said James Volk, co-director, institutional trading at D.A. Davidson and Co.

Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) deserves a lot of credit for sparking this week's rally. Most analysts were expecting less-than-scintillating results this quarter due to rising expenses and shrinking online advertising revenue.